Very weird anti-hypo, anyone else ever have this?

[Northerner]

Yesterday, about 10 minutes after spending 15 mins with Gay Gasper I began to feel odd. My eyesight went very weird, with distortion in my peripheral vision and flickering. Normally for me this would be a sign of a hypo, which might be expected after the exercise I had done a little earlier, plus a flickering of my peripheral vision is normally a good indicator of a hypo for me.

However, on measuring my blood I was 5.9, which was actually higher than I thought it would be, and certainly not hypo like I suspected. I rechecked on my other meter and it was 5.4 on there. Things seemed to be getting worse so I checked my blood pressure - it was perfectly OK at 111/70. So, I checked my blood again (about 10 minutes after the first check) and my level was 6.9!

I have experienced this a couple of times before and have come to the conclusion that what causes the eyesight problems is that perhaps my levels have dipped a little on the low side, but not enough to give me hypo symptoms, then my liver has overreacted and started shovelling out glucose like billy-oh, causing a very rapid rise in levels and leading to the eyesight problem. I can't think of any other explanation, has this happened to anyone else?

 

[AlisonM]

Yes, especially in the last three months since my numbers have been so good. I have all the symptoms but none of the hype. When testing I usually find my BGs in the 5-6 range and I'm rarely high enough these days to have suffered a huge slide. It's really weird. Oh and it seems to happen most often with me about an hour after a meal.

 

[gabriele]

Hi Northerner ,

just read this and as a retinopathy experienced diabetic get a little bit scared.

Do you mean with ' flickering ' lights or like lightnings. sorry have to asked , i'm not a native english speaking .

If yes, than please see a spec. eyedoctor .

Sports , hypos, hypers, bloodpressure- high and very low ect. can effect the retina .

My experiences
seeing spiders , seeing someone standing next to me , ( not very funny ),
seeing something moving , looking at light empty walls and seeing black lines or red spots , it sounds all very funny but it isn't ,

today I laugh about this and I think look at the bright side , I was never alone , there was allways somebody and it was not ' The sixth sense '

 

[Northerner]

Hi Northerner ,

just read this and as a retinopathy experienced diabetic get a little bit scared.

Do you mean with ' flickering ' lights or like lightnings. sorry have to asked , i'm not a native english speaking .

If yes, than please see a spec. eyedoctor .

Sports , hypos, hypers, bloodpressure- high and very low ect. can effect the retina .

My experiences
seeing spiders , seeing someone standing next to me , ( not very funny ),
seeing something moving , looking at light empty walls and seeing black lines or red spots , it sounds all very funny but it isn't ,

today I laugh about this and I think look at the bright side , I was never alone , there was allways somebody and it was not ' The sixth sense '

Thanks Gabi. No, it's not really like that, it's more like a 'dappling' effect, like when you are moving through trees where the sun is shining through. I experience it very mildly when hypo, but when this happens (it has happened maybe 3 times in the past 5 years) it is much more pronounced. I have been at the eye hospital for my retinopathy checks for the last couple of years, but that was because I had some small changes near the macula. However, they concluded that it wasn't getting any worse so now I'm back to normal screening.

 

[trophywench]

How odd.

Wondering whether it was a temp glitch where your brain just wasn't getting enough oxygen?

 

[LeeLee]

Hi Northy, best see your GP. What you describe sounds like something my father experienced, and he's not diabetic. In his case it was TIAs (Transient Ischaemic Attacks), and blood thinning drugs sorted him out. It's a bad idea to ignore them.

 

[gabriele]

Hi Northy, best see your GP. What you describe sounds like something my father experienced, and he's not diabetic. In his case it was TIAs (Transient Ischaemic Attacks), and blood thinning drugs sorted him out. It's a bad idea to ignore them.

I agree with LeeLee . Whatever it is , see a doctor !

 

[AlisonM]

I suppose TIAs are possible, It's an option they are investigating for me, cos I've had a few odd 'absences' in the last three years, although my BP is low/normal as a rule and my cholesterol is good too. I don't what Northe's is like.

 

[Northerner]

Hi Northy, best see your GP. What you describe sounds like something my father experienced, and he's not diabetic. In his case it was TIAs (Transient Ischaemic Attacks), and blood thinning drugs sorted him out. It's a bad idea to ignore them.

Hadn't really considered that I'm due an appointment at the doctor's to sort various things out, so will bring it up then.

 

[Steff]

Yup just telling M about this Alan and its all the signs he got when he suffered his TIA last year he was put on blood thinning pills and will be for rest of his natural...

 

[Northerner]

Yup just telling M about this Alan and its all the signs he got when he suffered his TIA last year he was put on blood thinning pills and will be for rest of his natural...

Perhaps I shouldn't have stopped taking the aspirin 3 years ago?

 

[LeeLee]

Depends why you stopped! If on medical advice or due to side-effects it's not silly (a bleeding stomach is never good). There are alternatives available if you can't tolerate aspirin.

 

[Northerner]

Depends why you stopped! If on medical advice or due to side-effects it's not silly (a bleeding stomach is never good). There are alternatives available if you can't tolerate aspirin.

It was side-effects mainly - they made me feel nauseous every morning, even the slow-release ones. That and the conflicting evidence over whether they help or harm you long term. When I was diagnosed I was also on clopidogrel for a year because they thought I'd had a heart attack (I hadn't). Don't really want to take those again either - the fewer pills the better!

 

[PattiEvans]

Could you have been a bit dehydrated after the exercise? I just had an eye scare where I saw irregular black patches in my vision. It transpired (after an optician and 2 hospital eye casualty visits) that the "jelly" in my eye had become dehydrated and was pulling on the retina. On reading up on this I found that "flashing lights" are another symptom of the same condition. All is fine now but I'm drowning in the amount of water I'm drinking LOL! Do please see either an Optician (qualified as an Opthalmologist) or your Dr.

 

[Northerner]

Could you have been a bit dehydrated after the exercise? I just had an eye scare where I saw irregular black patches in my vision. It transpired (after an optician and 2 hospital eye casualty visits) that the "jelly" in my eye had become dehydrated and was pulling on the retina. On reading up on this I found that "flashing lights" are another symptom of the same condition. All is fine now but I'm drowning in the amount of water I'm drinking LOL! Do please see either an Optician (qualified as an Opthalmologist) or your Dr.

It's possible Patti. I don't really fit the criteria for TIA from what I have read - BP and BG both very good (BP around 110/70 usually and BG 14-day average 5.4). I will be seeing doctor soon though!

 

[PattiEvans]

Good luck but do see someone!

 

[AJLang]

Hi Northener I really hope that this nothing for you to worry about. Is there any possibility that it is a migraine aura? The first time I had visual problems it scared me to bits and we went rushing to the out-of-hours doctor wo reassured me that it was a migraine aura. It now happens on average once a year and ranges from a one or two minutes to fifteen minutes. Always makes me think that it is a hypo but it isn't and I don't really get a headache. Lights can vary and some points can even seem like looking at a kaleidoscope. I just now accept it and take two ibuprofen and two paracetamol.

 

[Northerner]

...Always makes me think that it is a hypo but it isn't and I don't really get a headache. Lights can vary and some points can even seem like looking at a kaleidoscope. I just now accept it and take two ibuprofen and two paracetamol.

That's pretty much exactly what it was like Amanda, a kaleidoscope! Hmm...I wonder if that could have been it? As I said earlier, it's happened to me maybe 3 times since I was diagnosed 5 years ago with no apparent after-effects. I'll see what the GP says 🙂

 

[Mossey]

Just reading other people's eyesight experiences and now worried as very occasionally, maybe once a year, when suddenly very low, everything seems one or two shades brighter. I assumed this was just a normal symptom. Should I be worried ?

 

[Northerner]

Just reading other people's eyesight experiences and now worried as very occasionally, maybe once a year, when suddenly very low, everything seems one or two shades brighter. I assumed this was just a normal symptom. Should I be worried ?

For me that's a fairly normal hypo symptom, which is partly why this incident was so confusing as I wasn't hypo! As it happens, I've just had a hypo in Tescos - not sure what my levels were, but the lighting became very harsh and intense and there was flickering around my peripheral vision. I had a couple of jelly babies and all was fine again a few minutes later 🙂

If you are low when this happens then I would think it's most likely to just be a hypo symptom, but one you rarely experience so it may be down to a certain set of unfathomable circumstances.